Emulsions of high molecular weight polymers are commonly prepared using emulsion polymerization or suspension polymerization techniques. These techniques involve first preparing emulsions or suspensions of the monomer starting materials, and subsequently polymerizing the monomers in-situ to create the high molecular weight polymers. Such techniques avoid the handling and processing problems associated with high molecular weight polymers. However, the type of high molecular weight polymers that can be prepared by such techniques are often limited, and furthermore, the resulting physical properties of the emulsions can often limit their use in many applications.
Alternatively, emulsions of high molecular weight polymers have been prepared by first dispersing the preformed high molecular weight polymer in a solvent. Some representative examples of this art are shown and others further discussed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,177,177 and 6,103,786. Also representative of this art are techniques known to create latex emulsions, illustrative examples of this art are taught in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,360,599, 3,503,917, 4,070,325, 4,243,566, 5,554,726, 5,574,091 and 5,798,410, where the high molecular weight polymer is dispersed in a solvent and is subsequently emulsified.
High internal phase emulsions of high molecular weight polymers are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,539,021, 5,688,842, and 6,156,806. However, these examples also require the use of organic solvents to dissolve the high molecular polymers.
The presence of solvent in emulsions can be hazardous in certain applications or limit usage in other instances because of environmental concerns. For example, many of the commercially important volatile organic solvents are also hazardous to health and environment such as ozone depletion, air pollution, and water contamination. The presence of such volatile solvents in emulsions are highly undesirable to both the producers and the users of emulsions as special handling precautions and equipments are required to minimize the workers' exposure and release to environment.
Alternative techniques have thus been sought to prepare emulsions of preformed high molecular weight polymers that avoid the shortcomings mentioned above. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,123,403 provides a continuous process for preparing aqueous polymer microsuspensions. Aqueous microsuspensions of solid polymers (e.g. melting above 20° C.) are prepared by a continuous process comprising the steps of (a) forming a heterogeneous composition having a discontinuous aqueous phase and a continuous polymer phase at temperatures above the polymer melting point, and (b) converting the resulting polymer continuous heterogeneous composition to a water-continuous heterogeneous composition. The '403 patent describes its process as useful for solid polymers, and for thermoplastic solids whose degradation point is somewhat higher than its melting point, and is particularly useful for polymers having a melt flow rate of less than about 40, and temperature sensitive polymers.
Emulsions of high molecular weight polyisobutylene have been reported in Japanese Patent Application Publications 58208341, 59122534, 7173346, 10204234, and 10204235. The publications describe polyisobutylene emulsions having a 1–75% solid content which are prepared with specific types of surfactants, for example a combination of polyoxyethylene-oxypropylene block polymer with polyoxyethylene alkyl ether sulfate ester are described in JP 10204234.
Emulsions of pre-formed high molecular weight silicones have been reported. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,806,975 and 5,942,574 describe a method for continuous emulsification of organopolysiloxane gums involving a compounding extruder of a specific design, which requires a minimum shear rate of 10 sec−. While the '975 and '574 patents describe its apparatus and method as capable of emulsifying organopolysiloxane gums having a viscosity in excess of 500,000 centipoise, examples were limited to a trimethylsiloxy-endblocked dimethylpolysiloxane gum with a viscosity of 10 million centipoises (10 KPa-s).
U.S. Pat. No. 5,840,800 describes crosslinked emulsions of pre-formed silicon modified organic polymers having a viscosity of 5–500 Pa-s and a glass transition temperature of less than 20° C. The '800 process describes the formation of a crosslinked emulsion by a) forming an emulsion of silicon modified organic polymers having a viscosity of 5–500 Pa-s (or 0.005–0.5 KPa-s) and b) allowing crosslinking to occur within the emulsion resulting in emulsions of crosslinked polymers.
There is a need for improved processes for the production of emulsions of preformed high viscosity elastomeric polymers using little or no solvents to enhance emulsion formation. There is also a need for processes for the production of emulsions of preformed high viscosity elastomeric polymers with curable functionalities using little or no solvents. Furthermore, high solids emulsions of elastomeric polymers that are stable with time, and can be further diluted to produce stable emulsions are sought in many industrial processes such as coating applications. Processes are needed for the preparation of high solids emulsions of preformed high viscosity elastomeric polymers and elastomeric polymers with curable functionalities. A high solids emulsions (e.g. 75% by weight) of such elastomeric polymers will allow development of higher solids, water-based coatings, adhesives, and sealants formulations without solvents, or volatile organic compounds. The preparation of a high solids emulsion of high viscosity elastomeric polymers with curable functionalities will allow development of curable or crosslinkable coatings, adhesives, and sealants formulations with improved properties, performance and stability over their non-curable or pre-crosslinked elastomeric polymer analogues.
Heretofore a method has not been disclosed for the preparation of stable water-continuous emulsions of high viscosity elastomeric polymers having a high solids content, which also yields stable lower solids emulsions upon dilution, and contains little or no organic solvents.
An object of this invention is to provide a process for preparing water continuous emulsions of elastomeric polymers that are essentially free of organic solvents.
It is a further object of this invention to provide water continuous emulsions of elastomeric polymers with a solids content greater than 75% by weight having a particle size of less than 5 μm (micrometers) that are stable with time.
It is yet a further object of this invention to provide stable emulsions of elastomeric polymers prepared by the dilution of the high solids emulsions of the elastomeric polymer.